1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper sheet handling apparatus which can handle paper sheets such as bills and the like. Here, as paper sheets which are handled in the paper sheet handling apparatus according to the present invention, there will be conceivable bills. And the paper sheet handling apparatus can be applied to gaming machines such as Japanese Pachinko machines, slot machines or vending machines (abbreviated as “gaming machines and the like” hereinafter).
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, it is known a bill handling apparatus, installed in the gaming machines and the like, which are provided with a bill validating unit for validating whether bills inserted through a bill insertion slot is valid or not and a bill receiving unit (abbreviated as “stacker” hereinafter) for receiving bills fed by the bill validating unit after determined that bills are valid.
In the above bill handling apparatus, the stacker can be easily detached from a main unit of the bill handling apparatus. And in a case that bills are fully stacked in the stacker, only the stacker is detached from the main unit and bills can be carried with the stacker.
As the above bill handling apparatus, it is proposed a bill handling apparatus in Japanese Unexamined Publication No. Hei 8-123991. In the bill handling apparatus, there are provided a bill validating unit for validating bills inserted from outside thereof, a main unit that a stacker receiving bills validated as normal by the bill validating unit can be attached thereto and detached therefrom, a bill feed unit for feeding bills from the bill validating unit to the stacker, a bill push-in unit for pushing and stacking bills in the stacker, a driving unit for driving the bill push-in unit and a lock and unlock device for locking or unlocking the stacker when the stacker is attached in the main unit. In the above bill handling apparatus, it is constructed so that the driving unit is installed in the main unit and the lock and unlock device is driven by driving force transmitted from the driving unit, thereby lock and unlock operation by the lock and unlock device is conducted.
However, in the above mentioned bill handling apparatus having the lock and unlock device, a mechanism (for example, the cam mechanism) for pushing bills, which are fed from the bill feed unit, in the stacker is attached to the stacker. Due to this, the stacker becomes heavier and bigger, as a result, it is very inconvenient to carry the stacker.
Further, conventionally, in order to surely carry bills fed from the bill validating unit into the stacker, it is necessary to add to the above bill feed unit a bill take-in mechanism which is constructed from a bill sending rollers or a slider and the like, and a drive source for driving the bill take-in mechanism.